Sometimes timing, place and circumstances all align and something happens that you don’t expect. So, last week, I shared that I did a photo shoot of a porch and Kriste and I had a couple of dogs for company.  As I worked on the shoot, I thought the time is coming soon when our family will get a dog.  We’ve been thinking about it for over a year, but never pulled the trigger on actually getting one. One reason was that it felt like Jeff and I wanted different things.  He wanted a specific breed, an Australian Shepherd, so he was looking at puppies on breeder websites.  I wanted to adopt a rescue dog, one that was a little older, maybe around two, who was already past the puppy stage, was house-trained, and well-behaved. So, we both looked now and then, but never spotted one we were both excited about. This weekend, Jeff went

I bought a book on canning years ago.  I liked the idea of gardening, growing, harvesting and preserving.  Well, that book was about the extent of my efforts at canning until last week. If you have read my blog for a while, you may have picked up on the fact that I love cherries.  I rejoice when they first hit the stores in May and feel like there should be a moment of silence when they are no longer available in August.  My family knows that if they see good cherries, buy them for Marian.  I’ll even pay the outrageous $8.99/pound when they make a brief appearance around Christmas. So, while cherries were plentiful, I decided to try canning some.  Well, a lot. In addition to the cherries, I also picked up tomatoes, herbs, lemons, and a few other ingredients.  I mean, if you’re going to can, you might as

Well, Haven 2016 is in the books.  For those who don’t know what Haven is, it’s a home bloggers conference for DIY/Home Bloggers and readers.  It is always a shot in the arm for me, being around other creatives and taking some time to network, teach, and learn. I was wearing a lot of different hats at the event.  I was a co-keynote speaker for the opening ceremony with my best blog friend, Shaunna, taught two milk paint classes with Kriste, and was a Haven Mentor, which meant I facilitated a small group of Haven attendees. The thing that had my stomach in knots was the keynote presentation.  I’m not a world-class speaker and, as talented and awesome as Shaunna is, she isn’t either.  We’re just bloggers, creatives, entreprenuers, and this was a little out of our comfort zone.  As we’re talking over things the day before, we were pretty

I went to Myrtle Beach last week with my family.  While we’re not at the same beach I went to as a kid (Long Beach on Oak Island in NC), the beach in general always reminds me of our summer vacations there that started when I was a baby and continued through high school. When I was first introduced to the ocean, it wasn’t my thing.  Some kids will sit in the sand, roll in the surf and enjoy every minute of it.  Looking at those kids now, or even adults for that matter, sitting in the sand…yikes!  It just gives me the heebie-jeebies!  I never liked grit, sand, sticky and salty skin, and being dirty in general. So, I found a solution.  I could be at the beach, in the water, in my own safe, comfy, clean way. I would sit in a five gallon bucket filled with water. I would put my